Sunday, November 05, 2006

NFC Lookout at the Halfway point

I just saw that the final score of the Vikings game...they lost to Frisco...that bears repeating: The Minnesota Vikings had one chance to make it a race in the NFC North following the Chicago Bears stunningly poor performance (and subsequent loss to the Dolphins). Instead of clawing to within 2 games of the Bears (and making the second half of the season interesting) they LOSE to the San Francisco 49ers. OMG...that is hard to take...and I thought being an Eagles fan was tough....

So for those keeping track, the Eagles, Vikings, Rams, Cowboys, and Panthers are all 4-4....Atlanta teeters at 5-3 (to use a Bermanism, the Falcons are a "yeah, but" team) after a stinking loss to the stinking Lions. The Seahawks are 4-3 and play the Raiders on MNF...can they win without their QB and MVP running back? If not, them they'll be 4-4 too (duh, I can do math).

So, at the midway point there are three teams with a good bead on the Playoffs, the NFC East leading Giants (6-2), the NFC North leading Bears (7-1), and the NFC South leading Saints (6-2, whodduthunkit?). That leaves 1 spot for the Seahawks/Rams (if their both .500, the 49ers would also be in that mix at 3-5, hard as that is to believe); with the assorted gaggle of currently mediocre teams feuding for the final two slots.

What does this mean? It means that the Eagles are far from out of it. Yeah, they have some tough slate of games in the second half, but playing teams like Carolina and Atlanta may actually be crucial, those are two teams we'll be battling down the stretch. If we cannot beat them head-up then, quite honestly, we won't deserve to play in January. (ditto for the division games, 1-1 so far, we need to be 5-1 or 4-2 at worst to have a prayer at the NFC East).